Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Look what recreational fishermen have done to her:

We are seeing every year more sharks with hooks in their mouths and jaw injuries, some as severe as the one this tiger girl suffered recently. Her jaws were strong enough to cut through bones and tortoise shells. Not anymore.

Just imagine the brute force the responsible fisherman must have applied that he (maybe she?) actually cracked the lower jaw trying to land this medium sized shark.

Fortunately, the shark was strong enough to survive the ordeal. Many others don't which is why it is so important that the Bahamian authorities declare their archipelago a shark sanctuary soonest.

A much bigger threat than sport fishermen are the professional shark hunters (e.g. the Bahamian seafood company SUNCO) that are in the starting holes, ready to go after the Bahamian sharks solely for their fins so they can be sold to Hong Kong traders.

SUNCO and possible others must be stopped "harvesting" the Bahamian sharks so that wealthy Chinese can enjoy a costly shark fin soup they consider an aphrodisiac or some "cultural" dish.

Back to "our" shark girl. Before she was hooked we all remembered her as a playful, almost sociable shark; now she is very shy and distrustful of humans. Can you blame her?

Wolf, This is Hook; Obviously from the name we coined her in 2008, this isn't the first time she's survived.

It disturbs me greatly that her demeanor has changed; not that I don't understand... just that her wonderful personality is what opened my eyes to a much greater understanding of sharks and the misconceptions surrounding them.

Disclaimer

Please be aware of the fact that diving with sharks can be potentially dangerous. Do NOT closely interact with sharks, touch them, feed them unless you are very experienced and know exactly how to interpret their body language. While it might look easy and harmless to interact with sharks the way we do, we do NOT encourage this type of underwater activity.